Dyeing union fabrics containing polyvinyl halide-acetate copolymers



2,232,460 PATENT oFFlcE DYEING UNION memos CONTAINING POL- rviNYr.name-accrue COPOLYMERS Arthur Frederick Klein, Philadelphia, Pa., as-

signor to American Cyanamid Company, New York, N. Y., a corporation ofMaine No Drawing.

s caims.

This invention relates to the dyeing of union goods containing polyvinylhalide-acetate copolymer fibers.

The dyeing of polyvinyl halide-acetate copolymer material which has beenput on the ill Vinyon and other fibers.

market under the trade name of Vinyon" has presented a considerabledyeing problem. Not

only is the material diflicult to dye and has re- 7 quired the use ofsuch auxiliary measures as the employment of solvents for the materialin the dye bath, or as describedin the copending ap:- plication ofKienle and Petke, Ser. No. 309,608, filed December 16, 1939, the use ofassistants of the amine, phenol, ester and open chain ether type, butthe material has been found to be very heat sensitive. If thetemperature of the bath is not kept belowa certain figure, a veryserious shrinkage of the Vinyon takes place.

This property of shrinking has been practi cally utilized in themanufacture of union felt' materials to be felted containing a mixtureof gested to hot press the material at a temperature sumciently high tocause substantial shrinking of the Vinyon. This shrinking increases thestrength and wearing abilityof the felt as the shrunk Vinyon fibersappear to anchor with the other fibers in the felt and hence to producea stronger and if desired, thinner product. Attempts have been made todye such feltsfollowing the general practice of low temperature dyeingand dyed felts can be-produced by this procedure in two steps, the feltbeing first hot shrunk and then cold dyed.

The present invention produces'similar advantageous results in a singlestep in felts and other union materials containing Vinyon fibers.Instead of hot shrinking the material, and then cold dyeing, I havefound that if the dye bath is maintained at a'sufficiently hightemperature,

for example, above 75 C., the union goods are dyed and the Vinyon"shrunk in a single operation and level dyeing is achieved with uniformshrinkage. Not only is it possible o tain good results in a single stepby the present invention which required two steps before, but the dyeingprocedure is actually improved because the high temperature permits morerapid and efficient dyeing not only of the "Vinyon, but of many of theother fibers which may be associated therewith. Material savings in timeand improved results are therefore obtained.

The present invention is applicable not only to union felts, but also toother union fabrics where shrinkage of the fvinyon" component is ofimportance.- fancy effects may be produced by a single step process bymeans of the present invention and in every case improved results areobtained.

It is an advantage of the present invention It has been sug-' Thuscolored crepe fabrics and other ven s or non-solvent assistants can besaved.

' Application December 23, 1939,

Serial No. 310,834 1 that the ordinary procedures in union dyeing neednot be materially changed over standard dyeing procedures, except ofcourse, that the dye ba'. 1 must contain the necessary ingredients fordyeing Vinyon if it is to be colored. In

certain cases-the dye bath is deliberately so chosen that it will notdye the Vinyon but it will dye the other fibers producing goods withwhite stripes or other effects. 1

The present invention is not critical as to temperature and in generaltemperatures above 75 C. may be used. Shrinkage begins at about thistemperature and rapidly increases. At temperatures of about 100 C. theshrinkage is very marked and operation at this temperature has theadvantage that it is easy to maintain a uni-- form temperature if-thedye bath is permitted to boilgently. Still higher temperatures may ofcourse be used andsuitable dyeing under pres- 135 C. and should not beapproached too closely,

unless the surface changes in the Vinyon which take place are.unobjectionable.

. The proportion of Vinyon in the mixed goods or union fabrics may varywithin wide limits. The present invention is not being lim-' ited to anyparticular proportion. -,In general the amount of.Vinyon used will be'sufi'icient to produce the desired result. Where it is mixed withcheaper fibers such as cotton, rayon, and; the like, it is generallyeconomically desirable to keep the proportion of7 ffVinyon downas low aspossible and consistent with obtaining the effect desired. It is animportant advantageof the present invention that in many cases evensmall.

amounts of Vinyon will produce. remarkable results when high temperatureuniform dyeing is employed.

, The present invention is not limited to the use of any particular dyesor any particular mixture of dyes. The dyeing procedures form no part ofthe present invention except insofar as they have to be modified toeffect high temperature dyeing. It is an important advantage of thepresent invention that at the high dyeing temperatures used, it is notnecessary to employ either solvent or non-solvent dyeing assistants asthe high temperature apparently affects the surface of the Vinyon sothat it will accept suitable oil soluble dyes. Not only does the presentinvention produce improved results but the dyeing procedure is actuallysimplified and the cost of sol- When vat or sulfur dyeing is desired itis advantageous to use the specific procedures disclosed and claimed'inthe copending application a Petke and Klein, Ser. No. 310,828, filedbecember 23, 1939.

The invention will be described in greater detail in conjunctionwith-the dyeing of typical mixed or union material in the followingspecificexamples, it being understood that the invention is not limitedto the details therein set forth.

Example 1 color which contains 2.2 parts of benzopurpurine (C. I. 448),0.02 part of a direct dyeing blue (0. I. 518), and 0.80 part of anoil-soluble color made by coupling p-'nitroaniline on phenyl ethylethanolamine isstirred into 3000 parts of water. 30 parts of salt isadded and./: part of dioctyl sodium sulfosuccinate is added. The feltwhich is wet out with dioctyi sodium sulfosuccinate is entered into thecold bath. The temperature of the dyebath is raised during a period of20 minutes to the boil, the dyeing is continued for 20 minutes at theboil, and for 20 minutes longer in the cooling bath. The dyed felt isrinsed and dried. The material is dyed a bright red which is'level anddoes not crock or sublime.

Example 2 and soluble colors, containing 1.5 parts of a direct dyeingcolor (0.1; 518), 0.07 part of a direct dyeing green (Pr. 693), 0.60part of dispersed. 1--

methyl amino-4' -ethylol amino anthraquinone', and 0.04 part of adispersed oil-soluble orange made by coupling diazotized p-nitroanilineon pxylidine, are stirred into 3000 parts of water. 30 parts of commonsalt and 05 part dioctyl sodium sulfosuccinate are then added and thefabric which has been wet out isplaced in the bath.

minutes.

The temperature of the bath is raised to 150 F., held at thistemperature for 30 minutes, and then raised to the boil and held therefor 30 The dyed fabric is then rinsed and dried. This procedure givesafabric in which the two fibers are dyed the same shade and strength andwhich does not crock or sublime.

Example 3 phthalate and 0.3 part of a solution of a'mmonium linoleateare added, followed by stirring,

. to give a smooth paste. This paste is then diluted with 150 parts ofwater and the fabric dyedtherein for 1 hour at 85 C. Under theseconditions the color exhausts well from the bath. The dyed cloth is thenoxidized with any of the usual oxidizing agents, soaped and dried. Thisprocedure gives a level, red union dyeing with good fastness properties.

The specific examples refer to. the use of wet out fabric or yarn. Thisis a desirable procedure and very efiective results can be obtained bythe useof dilute solutions of powerful wetting agents such as forexamplea /z% solution of diocty'l sodium sulfosuccinate. The invention ishowever .not limited to pr'e-wetting material where the and labor.

nature of the material is such that satisfactory be understood that theinvention is also of importance where for convenience in handling orother reasons the union material has been subjected to a. heattreatment, such as for example hot pressing of felt, which has resultedin partial shrinkage of the "Vinyon" fibers. In such a case the presentinvention still retains the important advantageof rapid dyeing and goodpenetration which results from the high temperature bath,

' but most of the shrinkage may have been effected in a single step. Ina broader aspect therefore, the invention includes dyeing at hightemperature, union'material which may have been partially pre-shrunk.

What I claim is:

1. A method of dyeing mixedmaterials containing substantially. unshrunkpolyvinyl halideacetate copolymer fibers admixed with other fibers whichcomprises subjecting the mixed material to dyeing in a dyebath at atemperature at which the unshrunk polyvinyl halide-acetate copolymerfibersshow marked shrinkage.

2. A method of dyeing mixed materials containing substantially unshrunkpolyvinyl halideacetate copolymer fibers admixed with other fibers whichcomprises subjecting the mixed material to dyeing in a dyebath attemperatures about 100 C.

3. A combined method of dyeing and increasing the strength of feltscontaining substantially unshrunk polyvinyl halide-acetate copolymerfibers admixed with other fibers which comprises dyeing the felt in adyebath at a temperature at which the unshrunk polyvinyl halide-acetatecopolymer fibers show marked shrinkage.

4. A combined method of dyeing and increasing the strength of feltscontaining substantially unshrunk polyvinyl halide-acetate copolymerfibers admixed with other fibers which comprises dyeing the felt ina'dyebath at temperatures about 100 C.

5. A method according to claim 1 in which the dyebath containsoil-soluble dyes and is substantially free from solvents for thepolyvinyl halide-acetate copolymer and non-solvent dye assistantstherefor. g

6. A method according to claim 2 in which the dyebath containsoil-soluble dyes and is vsubstantially free from solvents for thepolyvinyl halide-acetate copolymer and non-solvent dye assistantstherefor.

'7. A method according to claim 3 in which the dyebath containsoil-soluble dyes and is substantially free from solvents for thepolyvinyl halideacetate copolymer and non-solvent dye assistantstherefor.

8. A method-according to claim 4 in which the dyebath containsoil-soluble dyes and is substantially free from solvents for thepolyvinyl halide-acetate copolymer and non-solvent dye assistantstherefor.

ARTHUR FREDERICK KLEIN.

